RESOLUTION A3-0041/93

Resolution on the European Council report for 1991 on progress towards European Union

The European Parliament,

-having regard to the European Council report for 1991 on progress towards European Union (C3-0256/92 - SN 1928/1/92),

-having regard to the Treaty on European Union signed in Maastricht,

-having regard to its resolution of 14 October 1992 on the state of European Union and ratification of the Maastricht Treaty,

-having regard to the report of the Committee on Institutional Affairs and the opinion of the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education and the Media (A3-0041/93),

1.Notes that the Council's report on progress towards European Union merely reviews the year's activities and makes no effort to analyse the delays and shortcomings in the European integration process;

2.Stresses that the Treaty on European Union has given the Community integration process fresh impetus which will enable it to progress towards Union; notes that this impetus stems from the confidence generated by the Single Act, the prospect of a unified internal market in 1993 and the work of the Commission, Parliament and many Member States in the interinstitutional conferences;

3.Draws attention, nevertheless, to the significant shortcomings in the Treaty on European Union, whose structure, based on 'pillars', fails to incorporate into the EC Treaty the common foreign and security policy or cooperation in the spheres of justice and internal affairs; calls for the WEU to become part of the Union and for its activities to be subject to stronger parliamentary control;

4.Economic and Monetary Union:

Welcomes the fact that the Treaty provides for the introduction of a single currency by 1999 at the latest and 1997 at the earliest, a step which would entail the conduct of a common monetary policy and the establishment of an independent European system of central banks; recommends the European Council to strengthen democratic control of EMU by greater transparency in decision-making procedures, by increased participation by the European Parliament and by negotiation of the necessary interinstitutional agreements;

5.Economic and social cohesion:

Calls for the Cohesion Fund and for the proposals contained in the Delors II package to be implemented immediately and stresses that the Treaty stipulates that the Member States and the Community must conduct their policies with a view to achieving the objective of economic and social cohesion;

6.Ratification and application of the Treaty:

Stresses once again the need for those Member States which have not yet done so to ratify the Treaty as it stands so that it can enter into force as soon as possible; emphasizes that, although the Maastricht Treaty displays minor internal contradictions, the experience gained with the application of the Single Act shows that everything will depend on the interpretation and, above all, practical day-to-day application of the Treaty;

7.Takes the view that substantial improvements can be achieved without amending the text of the Maastricht Treaty:

(a)subsidiarity

Notes that subsidiarity is primarily a philosophy which leaves scope for interpretation, but that the application of that philosophy must not lead to a dismantling of the Community acquis; stresses the need for the interinstitutional conference (Commission, Council and Parliament) which has already been called to be given a remit to frame the instruments needed to apply the subsidiarity principle, draw up an interinstitutional agreement on that principle, and lay down a requirement that the Commission should forward to the Council and Parliament a report on its implementation;

(b)citizenship

Notes that the granting of specific political rights to the citizens of the Union both inside (right to vote) and outside (diplomatic protection) its frontiers is one of the main achievements of the Maastricht Treaty; calls for the Treaty provisions governing citizens' rights, in particular the right to vote and stand for election, and their full participation in the European integration process to be implemented; takes the view that citizenship also covers the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms;

(c)transparency and democracy of the Community legislative process

Emphasizes that transparency and democracy will be enhanced by an annual legislative programme adopted by the three institutions (Council, Commission, Parliament) and which must be made public, a political undertaking by the Council not to adopt legislative texts previously rejected by Parliament, and the effective and regular consolidation of Community law in order to make it more accessible to Community citizens;

8.Comitology:

Deplores the fact that the Council, when granting the Commission implementing powers, tends to make use of committees which guarantee it a particularly broad measure of control over the measures proposed by the Commission, and stresses the need for the 'comitology' system to be simplified to ward off the danger of a renationalization of common policies;

9.Classification of Community acts:

Takes the view that it is absolutely vital to define clearly the nature of Community acts; notes that the current classification gives rise to confusion as to the respective roles of the legislature and executive in the Community; calls for a clear classification of Community acts to be introduced which distinguishes between constitutional acts, budgetary acts, legislative acts and implementing measures;

10.Information policy:

Notes the need for the institutions to revise their information policy and takes the view that certain recently observed public attitudes stem from the lack of information on the benefits deriving from the Community and the Maastricht Treaty; takes the view that the Community and national authorities must share responsibility for information policy;

11.National parliaments:

Points out once again that the national parliaments play a vital role in the democratization of the Community and stresses their responsibility for monitoring the incorporation of Community law into national law;

12. The Commission:

Considers that the independence of the Commission is fundamental to its proper functioning;

13.The Council:

Urges the Council to discuss legislation in public;

14.Considers that Council deliberations in public will allow national parliaments and citizens to monitor their government representatives in the Council;

15.Urges the members of the Council to display a greater collective responsibility in their public utterances, which would serve to make public opinion in the Member States more favourable to Community policies;

16.European Council:

Regards it as essential that the European Council should retain and consolidate its role as a provider of stimuli and guidelines;

17.Internal market:

Notes with concern that certain key proposals for the completion of the internal market were not adopted in time to be incorporated into national law before 31 December 1992 (e.g. proposals relating to the free movement of persons and indirect taxation); deplores the fact that, according to the last Commission report on the implementation of the White Paper on the completion of the internal market, in August 1992, 25% of measures adopted had still to be incorporated into the national law of the Member States;

18.External borders, right of asylum, visas:

Deplores the fact that the Member States have still not reached agreement on the application of the Convention on checks at the Community's external borders; also deplores that there has been no progress towards the harmonization of policies on immigration and the right of asylum;

19.Monetary instability:

Considers that the recent instability in the money markets demonstrates that socio-economic cohesion and coordination of the economic and financial policies of the Member States is needed more than ever before; deplores the inadequate reaction of the Council and the Commission to the crisis; considers that multilateral supervision should be strengthened and more efficient means should be adopted to fight against speculation and its destabilizing effects;

20.External economic relations:

Points out the need to reach a global, fair, and balanced agreement within GATT in order to strengthen multilateral trading systems and trade patterns; stresses the need for the Uruguay Round to be brought to a speedy conclusion, on condition that all the parties involved make equivalent concessions;

21.European Economic Area:

Welcomes the forthcoming establishment of the European Economic Area, which will be the world's largest integrated economic market; stresses, however, that the agreement does not go as far as to set up a customs union or a single market covering all the 18 countries involved and does not provide for a common external trade policy;

22.Environment:

Deprecates the Council's failure to reach a decision on the seat of the European Environment Agency, thus delaying its establishment, and warns that it will oppose implacably any renationalization of environmental and consumer protection policies under the pretext of subsidiarity;

23.Credibility of foreign policy:

Deplores the fact that the Member States let slip an excellent opportunity to draw up and follow, in the spirit of the Maastricht Treaty, a common policy on the conflict in the former Yugoslavia; notes that this lack of unity has helped to turn public opinion against the Treaty;

24.Regular debates on European Union:

Stresses the need to consider on a regular basis current problems connected with the establishment of European Union and to deliver an opinion on those problems;

25.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the governments and parliaments of the Member States.